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I built a nesting box for a barred owl. The directions and dimensions were in the back of some outdoor magazine. It seems a little strange that a bird who has been living for years in knot holes and hollow dead trees suddenly has an architect but a person has got to start somewhere. I'd heard the owls out there in the woods near my cabin. I knew there were at least two from hearing them calling (each other?) from separate directions. It was good to hear them and I wanted them to stay.
I hung the box I built high on the trunk of a birch tree - in accordance with the directions. It remained vacant for two or three years. I knew the owls were still out there. I could hear them. I've had hours of enjoyment, laying awake nights with the cabin windows open, listening to them talking back and forth. "Who-cooks-for-you?" "Whoo-hoo-not-you" - words (sounds) to that effect. Sometimes they'll scream. Not often but, when they do it'll raise the hair on the back of your neck - even if you don't have hair on the back of your neck.
Then one day as I was - - -
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